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Rayalaseema

Rayalaseema is a geographic region in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It includes the southern districts of Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa and Kurnool. It has an area of 67,299 km2, which is 42.00% of total state area, and a population of 15,174,908 (2011 census), which is 30.03% of the state population. These Telugu-speaking districts were part of the Madras Presidency until 1953, when Telugu-speaking districts of the Presidency were carved out to form Andhra State. From 1953 to 1956, the region was part of Andhra State. In 1956, the Telangana region was merged with Andhra State to form Andhra Pradesh State. Earlier, Bellary district was part of Rayalaseema. With the formation of states based on languages, Bellary was joined to Karnataka. The city of Bellary, which has large numbers of both Kannada and Telugu speakers, was included in Mysore after protracted debate and controversy.